Merge Healthcare has been at the vanguard of one of the most important shifts in tech and healthcare of the past few decades – the digitization of medical imaging and health information. Merge enabled medical facilities to realize game-changing clinical and workflow efficiencies. While not a household name like an Apple or Microsoft, Merge solutions have impacted diagnostic and treatment processes for over a billion patients globally.
This article will chronicle Merge‘s journey from a Milwaukee basement startup to its acquisition by IBM for $1 billion after a series of pivotal medtech innovations. You‘ll learn about Merge‘s founding to solve a critical medical imaging challenge, its breakthrough offerings that evolved with the healthcare industry‘s needs, impactful acquisitions and a major scandal Merge weathered on its way to becoming an iconic healthcare IT leader.
Founding: Enabling Medical Imaging Interoperability
In 1987, William "Bill" C. Mortimore was working as a radiology technician at a Milwaukee hospital. Every day, he witnessed workflow headaches and delays because imaging modalities – CT scanners, MRI machines and more – couldn‘t easily share digital image files with other systems. Manufacturers like Siemens, GE and Phillips built imaging devices focused mainly on capturing high-quality scans. Little consideration was given to simplifying what happened to the images next.
Bill had previously spent over a decade working on IT systems across manufacturing, aerospace, and healthcare. He realized the problem was a disconnect between medical devices and information systems. He believed that with the right software intermediary or "electronic plumbing" he could get machines talking to speed diagnoses.
Lacking funds to lease office space, Bill launched Merge Healthcare in 1987 out of his basement. Here‘s a look at Merge‘s progress over its nearly 30-year run as an independent company:
| Year | Milestone |
| 1987 | Merge Healthcare Founded by Bill Mortimore |
| 1990 | First Merge System installed at Chicago‘s Bernard Mitchell Hospital |
| 1997 | IPO raises $10M |
| 2002 | Release of FUSION Server medical imaging platform |
| 2005 | Merge serves 3M patients globally |
| 2006 | Accounting scandal rocks Merge |
| 2015 | $1B Acquisition by IBM |
Now let‘s explore Merge‘s biggest milestones, inventions and acquisitions over the years…
The Pioneering Merge System: Networking Medical Imaging
Bill Mortimore developed…
